The boy had become a monster
with scales for skin,
and tusks he had grown
just Wednesday afternoon.
Mum and dad had stopped looking at him
around the time he started breathing fire.
When he heard them murmur his name
along with talk of chains
and the dark,
he fled to the deep forest
where whispers said others like him
had made their home.
He met creatures with horns and fangs
that swept leaves from the ground;
a siren who taught him to breathe underwater,
and a mother ogre who kept him warm.
As they broke bread around the fire
and gave thanks to the stars,
the boy realised
who the real monsters were.


© Diane Lawlor